| LEONARDO
(SAILOR)
PROJECT# 479 "I just had the craziest nightmare! I dreamt I was in love...with Irma!" Preamble: In "Green With Jealousy," Shredder and Krang set their sights on a nuclear-powered submarine, hoping to use its energy to repower the Technodrome. In order to distract the Turtles so they can accomplish their task, they lace the Turtles' pizza with a love potion formulated to cause them to fall instantly and madly in love with the first female they lay eyes upon. Three of the four Turtles were affected (Donatello escaped only because he was driving the Turtle Van while the other boys chowed down...guess he didn't want to get the steering wheel too greasy) and they became instantly infatuated with Irma, proceeding to anonymously buy her gifts and later fight each other over the right to woo her. Leonardo, of course, attempted to outdo Raphael and Michaelangelo every step of the way, because that's just what Leonardo does. (While the other two are thinking of buying her flowers or furs, Leonardo decides to one-up them and get her diamond jewerly. Where he was going to actually find the money for such an extravagant gesture is anyone's guess.) The Turtles spend part of the episode dressed as sailors—one of the few Turtle costumes from the animated series that also made it into the action figure line by Playmates Toys, in the form of Midshipman Mike. It seemed like a shame that the other three sailor Turtles never got action figures in their likeness, though, so I bought four of the Midshipman Mike toys and made the appropriate modifications. Construction: The original action figure was covered with fish and barnacles that were attached to his body like parasites. Keep in mind that this figure was produced during the era of toy lines like Toxic Crusaders, which seemed to revel in being disgusting. One supposes it was just what kids were into back then. Anyway, I obviously had to remove those in order to get these figures more in tune with the appearance of the Turtles in their sailor suits as they appeared in the cartoon show. I also had to resculpt part of the face to get rid of the eyepatch and sculpt a tie for the front of the outfit. I also changed the feet to look less like boots and more like bare Turtle feet; originally, the toy was designed to balance on the toes of the right boot, but I cut away enough plastic that I was able to get him to stand flat on his feet. The leg connector inside the toy actually broke while I was working on him (most of the connectors inside TMNT toys are made of fragile, brittle plastic and I've seen plenty of them break over the years). I replaced it with the connector from a spare Rat King toy, but it wasn't identical to the original so his legs stuck out oddly. I compensated for this problem by cutting off his feet and reattaching them at a different angle, allowing him to stand with his legs further apart but still able to balance properly. It's perhaps only fitting that Leonardo got to be in a new, more heroic stance. Comments: Leonardo didn't get a lot of solo screen time in this episode for some reason. This is the best footage from the episode that I could find, believe it or not.
PORTRAIT OF BODACIOUS BOS'N LEO When the odds look bad and your ship is about to be sunk, Bodacious Bos'n Leo always steps in to take charge. He's a master mariner with a knack for nautical ninjitsu, ready to make the Foot Clan walk the plank! Leo has saved more ships than there are salmon in the sea. After a hard-won battle, Leonardo likes to relax with a lobster pizza (extra lemons, please), and he's been known to break out into a hearty refrain of "Ninety-Nine Bottles of Root Beer On the Wall." (He's got every verse memorized!) |
|
|
|
This Page Created: 1/19/2011
Last Updated: 2/8/2012
Page Content ©2012 Inspiration Studios
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles® is a
trademark of Nickelodeon
Turtles fight with fisticuffs!
